1998 Ranger 4x4 Ground Up Restoration

[ThatBostonGuy]

I fixed the image links for the old photos and added some new ones so have a peek at those. Here are some other photos that I haven't posted yet.

Custom full stainless steel exhaust fabricated by Lou's Custom Exhaust. They did a phenomenal job

 

[ThatBostonGuy]

Trashing the old nasty grey carpet for nice new black carpet.

 

[ThatBostonGuy]

Even after sitting for 5 months over the winter everything still looks pretty damn good. A few touch ups here and there and it will be perfect. The tranny is now out and being rebuilt, for the 2nd time.

 

[BlackBII]

Looking really good man.

That full stainless exhaust is super slick.

 

[ThatBostonGuy]

My transmission issue has been resolved finally! It only took 6 months but it seems to be good to go. Time to get back hitting it hard.

 

[ThatBostonGuy]

Getting the interior of the bed patched and sprayed with U-Pol Raptor bed liner. I'm very impressed with the quality of it. I'll be using it on a few of the exterior pieces when the time comes

 

[ThatBostonGuy]

I have pretty much everything squared away before I bring it to the body shop and get started on the body. I'm getting excited that I coming up to the finish line.

 

[Jim Oaks]

Looking good!

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Did you do the bedliner yourself? If so any special tools needed? (What kind of gun?)

I want to do that if I ever find a better bed for mine. I also wouldn't mind doing the rockers so they don't get beat up from gravel as much.

Truck is looking awesome, that color really pops

 

[DannyG]

I am really enjoying this thread. I want to make my '92 the same color, such a beautiful color.

Keep up the excellent work!

 

[ThatBostonGuy]

Did you do the bedliner yourself? If so any special tools needed? (What kind of gun?)

I want to do that if I ever find a better bed for mine. I also wouldn't mind doing the rockers so they don't get beat up from gravel as much.

Truck is looking awesome, that color really pops

I did do the bed liner myself. The spray gun came with the U-pol kit that I purchased from amazon. It was actually very simple. Most of the work was prepping the bed. I sanded the whole bed down with 320 grit and any crusty spots I used my trusty Milwaukee angle grinder equipped with a stainless wire cup brush. I then sprayed anywhere that bare metal was exposed with SEM direct to metal primer which ended up pretty much being the whole bed. Then you scuff the primer with grey scotch brite pads, blow it down and use a paint prep degreaser. I use SEM Solve.

The liner kit I bought came with 4 liters of liner and an equivalent amount of hardener. You just pour the hardener right into the liner bottles, shake, and spray. I sprayed about 4 solid coats before I ran out. If i was to do it again I would buy the 6 liter kit to get a bit more build up. It dried super hard and I can tell its going to hold up for a long time. I kind of wish i sprayed my frame with this stuff but its too late for that now.

 

[ThatBostonGuy]

I am really enjoying this thread. I want to make my '92 the same color, such a beautiful color.

Keep up the excellent work!

Thanks man I appreciate that. I absolutely love the color and I cant wait to lay some glass on it in the next couple of weeks.

 

[ThatBostonGuy]

It's been a few weeks since I've last updated the build thread but I have been making steady progress on the body work. The paint on the roof and the hood was delaminating so it has to be stripped to bare metal. There are a few spots on the back of the cab and the door jambs that need to be addressed as well but starting at the top of the cab and working my way down is most efficient way in my opinion. The hood being aluminum and flexible made it difficult to sand off without heating up the metal to the point of warping it so the lovely aircraft remover was used. I'm not a fan of using it since its nasty to work with but I'd rather not have to do hours of blocking to get out any ways that would inevitably show up after sanding it down.

 

[ThatBostonGuy]

I picked up a couple of used doors to replace the factory ones. The undersides on both original doors are completely rotten which is typical being in Massachusetts. OEM shells are some stupid price of like $900 each which is outrageous. I picked up 2 shells in good shape for $200 total. I stripped these down as well to get as clean as a surface as I could get it. My rocker panel was

 

[ThatBostonGuy]

The fun part for me is definitely painting. This is the stuff that really gets me excited. The pictures do NOT do this paint color justice. The first few pictures are basecoat only and in my haste to get the bed out into the sun to take pictures, I forgot to take a few of it still in the booth